Kyle offered a thoughtful editorial on Sunday arguing that U.S. airports–in general–are superior to European airports. While U.S. airports have come a long way in the last several years, the overall ease of navigation remains superior in most European airports.
Why European Airports Are Still Superior To U.S. Airports, But Why That Gap Is Narrowing
Kyle focuses on a recent trip through Frankfurt (traveling from Manchester to Rome) in which he arrived at a remote stand, had to wait for a bus into the terminal, then had to pass through passport control and face a long walk to his connecting flight. As someone who lived in Frankfurt and worked at Frankfurt Airport, I’ll forever love FRA, but it’s true that the transit process can be very burdensome there, especially if you must change terminals. With EES, the new immigration system also takes much longer and thus at peak times, lines may approximate or even exceed what they are for foreigners arriving in the USA.
On the other hand, say you arriving in Frankfurt from the USA and transiting to Italy or Croatia. Rather than have to claim baggage and re-clear security, you just have to go through passport control…it’s a far easier solution to international transit. If you’re connecting outside the Schengen Zone, you don’t have to go through passport control or security at all.
I also like that European airports are inter-modal and a train ride to the city center is almost aways very easy. Frankfurt Airport is also like a little city…it’s one of the only places you can buy groceries on Sunday. I love that it has a grocery store, pharmacy, bank, dry cleaner, and even a doctor’s office. You may endure a ton of walking, but overall, even Frankfurt is better.
In terms of big airports, I am not a fan of Amsterdam Schiphol, Brussels Zaventem, Lisbon Humberto Delgado, London Heathrow, Paris Charles de Gaulle, or Rome Fiumicino…I think all of them are burdensome and crowded (BRU being the worst of the bunch). Then there are airports like Munich and Zurich which I quite like, but feel like saunas during the summer (I love saunas, but not when I am toting luggage) . Then there are the wretched smaller airports that the budget carriers fly to that are often so threadbare in terms of amenities and comfort that they make even the worst U.S. airport look good.
So what are my favorite European airports? Despite the heat, I think Munich is so easy to navigate. I fly into Basel all the time where my family is and find that one of the best small airports in Western Europe. I love Helsinki Vantaa and Stockholm Arlanda and also don’t mind Oslo Gardermoen and Copenhagen.
But all of them, it seems to me, make transit very easy both to/from the airport and through the airport…that’s huge and that’s where European airports still superior to their American counterparts.
U.S. Airports Are Getting Better And Better
While the European airport experience may still be superior in the aggregate, there is no question that U.S. airports are getting better. At my home airport of Los Angeles, construction has been ongoing since the pandemic and we’re seen huge progress. The terminals are nicer than ever (and getting better) and a new train system will bring passengers to a train…hardly as efficient as most European airports, but progress for the City of Angeles.
We’ve seen investment in airports large and small, with vast new projects coming to Houston, Newark, Washington Dulles and transformative updates to smaller airports like New Orleans, New York La Guardia, Pittsburgh, and soon, Burbank. These are not just new gate and terminal projects, but have brought on new restaurants and lounges that are often excellent and better than European counterparts. U.S. airlines lounges have improved dramatically over the years…remember the days when it was just cubed cheese with crackers and sliced vegetables?
In terms of security, I find the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is much faster than almost any checkpoint in Europe and while you still get the occasional barking agent, overall the TSA has “matured” to become more efficient and offer better customer service (thank goodness Kristi Noem is gone). I travel with the same electronics and liquids and find I’m much more likely to get secondary baggage screening in Europe than in the USA.
I have Global Entry so I avoid lines when traveling alone, but when traveling with my family an arriving in the U.S., we always have to use the Green Card line since my wife is not a citizen. For the last several trips that has been a very quick and smooth process.
And finally, yes, Kyle is right that you are less likely to get a remote stand (bus gate) in the USA than in Europe. People love to rag on the “mobile lounges” at Washington Dulles, but that is quite an anomaly and soon to be retired. That said, there are some pretty pathetic large airports in the USA. I’d count Chicago O’Hare, Houston, disjointed New York JFK (though it will get better in the years ahead), Philadelphia and worst of all, Charlotte Douglas on that list.
We also have San Francisco, which is one of the best airports in the entire world and perhaps my second favorite major airport only to Hong Kong. U.S. airports are just not built for sterile international transit, but if the USA could find a way to do offer that, I’d be willing to make the same argument as Kyle, even without rail connections.
CONCLUSION
Kyle is not wrong that U.S. airports are improving and if you only take the retail and gate facilities alone, I’d say U.S. airports tend to be better. But when you factor in the ease of transit, passport control, and rail connections, I still find European airports on the whole preferable to U.S. airports.
I thought you could get global entry with a green card?
You can (the kids can get it too), but haven’t done it yet.
I think it’s 100% worth it to get it and kids are free (was slightly annoying to keep track of which credit I used on which credit card when kids were not free, but moot point now). And so many opportunities for you all to do the interviews on arrival.
But yeah, agree with your conclusion. Actually, the biggest problem I have with US airports these days is on arrival actually – we breeze through immigration because we all have global entry but then have to wait forever for our bags if we checked (obviously we try not to check, but on the bigger / longer trips, we occasionally will).
“Kyle is not wrong that U.S. airports are improving and if you only take the retail and gate facilities alone, I’d say U.S. airports tend to be better. But when you factor in the ease of transit, passport control, and rail connections, I still find European airports on the whole preferable to U.S. airports.”
^This. Great updated editorial and conclusion. Thank you, Matthew.
Sfo one of best airport in entire world? You make my day for healthy dose of laugh. Btw Vienna is pretty easy and the Vienna lounge is one of the best you can visit with Pp.
Jsut out of curiosity, other than the fact that you have to take a train to get to the train (BART), what do you not like about SFO? It’s really a lovely airport, and in many ways, feels like it belongs in another country.
Matthew, I just agree with you here. Nearly every European airport is just a more pleasant all around experience as far as I’m concerned. You didn’t even make mention of the fact that many airports across Europe now (LHR, MAN, and DUB among others) let you bring up to 2L liquid bottles!
LIS definitely sucks, it’s a very bad airport, but the Lisbon Metro literally stops at the terminal. You failed to mention MIA in your run down of terrible airports, but perhaps that one just goes without saying.
As for sterile transit in the US, I don’t think it will ever happen. I don’t think the constitution allows for any person to be in the US but not subject to the laws of the US (both good and bad). Who would have the legal authority to stop a person from deciding they want to leave the airport once they’ve been allowed in? Also, the 4th, 5th, and 13th amendments would have to basically be suspended even for US citizens if they were in the international departures area. I just don’t see a court upholding that.
I agree with you, Matthew, mostly because of the craziness involved for U.S. citizens arriving at a U.S. airport on an international flight. Mobile passport makes things smooth, but needing to collect luggage, recheck the luggage, then go through security again is maddening and I would think unnecessary. It’s easier for me to fly to Frankfurt and connect to Rome than it is to get myself through the arrival process in the U.S.
I agree with you 100%, Matthew.
It seems Kyle was angry about having to wait a couple of extra minutes at immigration in Frankfurt. What a horrible thing! An American doesn’t deserve such torture…
I wish he could experience the hours of waiting and the mistreatment that a foreign tourist faces when entering the US.
European airports are mostly just okay.
What’s wrong with CDG and IAH? I like both of them. IAH is way better than DFW as far as Texas airports go. I love AUS’s food and music but it’s so freaking clustered that it makes the experience less than ideal. Agree about LAX. It’s one of my faves in the US.
I used to fly a lot of Lufthansa and United through Frankfurt and I hope FRAPORT reads this: stop forcing people to learn the word “Aussenposition” — the last thing I want to do after a long flight is have to get on a bus. Actually I don’t want to do that on a short flight either. I’ve never been at an airport anywhere in the world that required me to take that many bus rides and at some point I decided enough is enough and made sure that I didn’t fly through your bus terminal. I should have done that way sooner.
As for the US. The airports that have impressed me the much have been airports like TPA and DAB. But clearly MCO has made major investments as well. I’m looking forward to seeing IAD get better terminals than C/D but then again I hardly fly United or LH anymore. And yes getting rebooked our routed through FRA was a reason for that! Fortunately my Sky Team flights for example involved next to no bus travel 🙂